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Reform UK holds its Conference in Birmingham; polls show it eleven points ahead of Starmer’s Labour

Reform UK has vowed to add incentives and tax breaks to the economy, so that the UK can become more self-sufficient in terms of defense manufacturing and technology

The Reform UK party held its conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, 5/6 September with their four MPs, mayors, councilors and more than 10,000 people attending the event.

The party, launched in 2021, led by Nigel Farage, the Clacton MP, currently leads the polls with an 11-point lead over Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party, buoyed by the recent defection of former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries to its ranks.

Reform's policies are shown in their manifesto, named “Our Contract With You”, which was released in June 2024 before the general election in the following month. The policies are divided between their plans for the first three months, and then what the party want to do further into the future.

BFBS Forces News has analyzed Reform UK's defense policies to see what the party would do if it were to win power and the keys to 10 Downing Street.

During the initial period of government, the party wants to raise defense spending to 2.5% of national GDP by the third year in charge of the UK, a figure that the UK government wants to achieve by 2027, and then boost defense spending to 3% within six years.

The manifesto argued that these measures will “increase the size and capacity of our armed forces and ensure our lead in NATO”.

The party's MPs would like to initiate an urgent pay review, as they stated it is “unacceptable” that an Amazon worker earns more than a soldier. Besides these policies, Mr Farage's party want to get a new Armed Forces Justice Bill through Parliament.

The bill will allegedly shield service personnel on deployment at home and abroad from the effects of civil law and human rights lawyers.

The manifesto does not describe how this will be done, nor what it will mean for the UK and the military's judicial system.

Another policy that the four-year-old party wants to enact is a new department for veterans with a minister, mimicking the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The Veterans minister position was first conceived by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2019.

The manifesto does not specify whether the minister will sit in cabinet or what powers the new ministerial department will have compared to those of the current veterans' minister, Al Carns MP.

“A properly funded and resourced whole department is essential to guarantee no veteran goes without and that our former servicemen and women play a leading role in our society and economy,” the manifesto said about the brand-new department.

Given that more UK regulars left the Armed Forces than joined over a 12-month period, according to the latest Ministry of Defense statistics, Reform UK have pledged to get 30,000 people to enlist in the British Army full-time. The policy document does not suggest provisional recruitment targets for the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force.

The party with more than 200,000 members has vowed to add incentives and tax breaks to the economy, so that the UK can become more self-sufficient in terms of defense manufacturing and technology.

Labour will be holding its conference in Liverpool, end of September, first October; Conservatives in Manchester, 05/08 October and Liberal-Democrats, Bournemouth, 20/23 September.